Australian Troops Using Hard Drugs in Afghanistan, Iraq

[tekisui]

Source: news.com.au

DIGGERS are using cocaine, heroin and other hard drugs while on tours of duty in Afghanistan and are returning home as addicts.

New Freedom of Information figures reveal hundreds of soldiers, sailors and airmen have tested positive to a string of illegal drugs since troops were sent to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Young Diggers Australia president John Jarrett said soldiers were mainly developing addictions to cocaine, a drug which is "as cheap as chips" in Afghanistan, The Sunday Mail reports.

"Soldiers (are) going over there, from NSW, healthy and normal, and coming back with all kinds of addictions," said Mr Jarrett, a Vietnam veteran.

"I do know the Australian Defence Force (ADF) is very concerned about the problem.

"We're seeing cocaine and marijuana as the major ones, but there's heroin around and all sorts of other drugs. Cocaine is the biggest problem though, because it's as cheap as chips."

The ADF personnel are understood to be using marijuana and cocaine illicitly to medicate themselves for psychological problems developed overseas.

Mr Jarrett said it was likely the soldiers were sourcing the drugs from foreign troops, particularly American forces, who serve alongside them in joint-operations fighting the Taliban.

An internal US intelligence report, made public this month, raised concerns about increased heroin use among bored, susceptible US soldiers.

It claims heroin is widely available in Afghanistan and is sold cheaply to allied forces as a tactical weapon to undermine their skills in battle.

more: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26383276-421,00.html